Install the required dictionaries

OOo 2.0 automatically installs several dictionaries with the program. To add other dictionaries, use File > Wizards > Install new dictionaries. An OOo document will open with links to different languages that you can install. Follow the prompts to install them.

Change some locale and language settings

You can change some details of the locale and language settings that OOo uses for all documents, or for specific documents.

Language Setting options.

In the Options dialog, click Language Settings > Languages.

On the right-hand side (as shown below), change the Locale setting, Default currency, and Default languages for documents as required. In the example, English (Australia) has been chosen as the locale setting, and the Australian dollar (AUD) for the default currency. Although an English (Australia) dictionary exists, the English (UK) dictionary has been selected in the Default languages for documents.

Choosing language options.

If you want the language (dictionary) setting to apply to the current document only, instead of being the default for all new documents, select the checkbox labelled For the current document only.

If necessary, select the checkboxes to enable support for Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and support for CCTL (complex text layout) languages such as Hindi, Thai, Hebrew, and Arabic. If you choose either of these checkboxes, the next time you open this dialog, you will see some extra choices under Language Settings, as shown below. These choices (Searching in Japanese, Asian Layout, and Complex Text Layout) are not discussed here.

Extra language settings when enhanced language support options are selected.